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1 Timothy 5:9-16 - Small Group Bible Study Preparation

Insuring
Widows’ Needs are Met

Chapter
5:9-16

9
A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old,
having been the wife of one man,

10
having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she
has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she
has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good
work.

11
But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual
desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married,

12
thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge.

13
At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to
house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things
not proper to mention.

14
Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and
give the enemy no occasion for reproach;

15
for some have already turned aside to follow Satan.

16
If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and
the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are widows
indeed.

1
Tim 5:9-16

Key Words

·
5 WIDOW / WIDOWS

·
3 HOUSE

·
2 IDLE

·
2 CHILDREN

·
2 LIST

·
2 MARRIED

·
2 YOUNGER

·
1 GOSSIPS

·
1 HOSPITALITY

·
1 INDEED

·
1 BURDENED

·
1 BUSYBODIES

·
1 PLEDGE

·
1 SIXTY

Title(s)

Insuring Widows’ Needs are Met

Outline

I.
List Qualifications for Widows 9-10

II.
Younger Widows Should Remarry 11-15

III.
Widows’ Care Further Clarified 16

Cross References,
Questions, Observations

9 A widow is to be put on the
list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one
man,

·

2
An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate,
prudent, respectable, hospitable,

1 Tim 3:2

3 Older
women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved
to much wine, teaching what is good,

4 so
that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their
children,

5 to be
sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so
that the word of God will not be dishonored.

Titus 2:3-5

a) What
is the list?

b) Does
this exclude a divorcee who remarried and was subsequently widowed?

c) What
about a widow who remarried and was once again widowed?

39 A wife is bound as long as her husband lives;
but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in
the Lord.

1 Cor 7:39

1)

10 having
a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown
hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has assisted
those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work.

·

36 Now
in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is
called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which
she continually did.

Acts 9:36

1 A good
name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and
gold.

Prov 22:1

39
A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she
is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

1 Cor 7:39

14
Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so
that they will not be unfruitful.

Titus 3:14

12
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which
they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they
observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

1 Peter 2:12

15
and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give
you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Tim 3:15

14
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a
worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to
the things spoken by Paul.

15
And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying,
"If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and
stay." And she prevailed upon us.

Acts 16:14-15

2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained
angels without knowing it.

Heb 13:2

17
Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, " Please let me drink a little
water from your jar."

18
She said, "Drink, my lord"; and she quickly lowered her jar to her
hand, and gave him a drink.

19
Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw also
for your camels until they have finished drinking."

20
So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to
draw, and she drew for all his camels.

Gen 24:17-20

38
and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with
her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet
and anointing them with the perfume.

Luke 7:38

5
Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and
to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

John 13:5

a) Are
all of these essential requirement to qualify to be a widow indeed?

1)

11 But
refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in
disregard of Christ, they want to get married,

·

11 But
Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet
sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

12
"Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I
have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,

13
would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain
from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the
hand of the Lord has gone forth against me."

Ruth 1:11-13

8 But I
say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even
as I.

9 But
if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry
than to burn with passion.

1 Cor 7:8-9

a)

1) Paul
doesn’t say “if”, but “when” they feel those desires. God has made us sexual
beings and as such we have sexual desires that we seek to have met.

2) Sensual
desires are a very powerful motivational force. They can lead people to set aside
a commitment to the Lord.

12 thus
incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge.

·

6 I am
amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of
Christ, for a different gospel;

Gal 1:6

4 ~'But
I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

5
~'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds
you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out
of its place—unless you repent.

Rev 2:4-5

a)

1) It
seems that in order for widows to be placed on the list, they must take some
kind of pledge to singleness in the devotion to Christ.

13 At
the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to
house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things
not proper to mention.

·

16 making the most of your time, because the days
are evil.

Eph
5:16

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the
garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

Gen
2:15

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be
alone; I will make him a helper
suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every
beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the
man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living
creature, that was its name.

Gen 2:18-19

11 For
we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at
all, but acting like busybodies.

12 Now
such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet
fashion and eat their own bread.

2 Thess 3:11-12

But we
urge you, brethren, to excel still more,

11 and
to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business
and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,

1 Thess 4:10b-11

27 She
looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of
idleness.

Prov 31:27

a)

1) God
intends for us to be productive in life. When we have too much time on our
hands, without responsibility, bad patterns tend to develop in our life.

14 Therefore,
I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the
enemy no occasion for reproach;

·

22 He
who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.

Prov 18:22

18 Then
the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make
him a helper suitable for him."

Gen 2:18

a)

1) Getting
married and having children is a Biblical way to avoid idleness as well as
lustful passions.

2) If
this is the solution offered to the younger widows, what solution is offered to
the older widows?

3 Older
women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved
to much wine, teaching what is good,

4 so
that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their
children,

5 to be
sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so
that the word of God will not be dishonored.

Titus 2:3-5

15 for
some have already turned aside to follow Satan.

·

18 For many
walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
enemies of the cross of Christ,

19
whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in
their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

Phil 3:18-19

20 For
if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are
overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

21 For
it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

22 It
has happened to them according to the true proverb, " A DOG RETURNS TO ITS
OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the
mire."

2 Peter 2:20-22

32
"So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you
shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.

33
" You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you,
that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong
your days in the land which you will possess.

Deut 5:32-33

16 If
any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and the
church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are widows indeed.·

9 For
you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as
not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

1 Thess 2:9

7 For
you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act
in an undisciplined manner among you,

8 nor
did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we
kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;

2 Thess 3:7-8

a)

1) Not
just men who had the means were responsible for widows in their families V8,
but women who were able shared this same responsibility.

2) The
above were the minimum requirements of the church. The church, of course, as it
has means, may do more in any given situation.

Key Verse

9 A widow is to be put on the
list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one
man,

10 having a reputation for good
works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to
strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has assisted those in
distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work.

Central Teaching

Younger
widows are to be provided for through remarriage, but the church should provide
for qualified older widows if their needs are not otherwise being met.